NEW YORK (March 3, 2015) ---
Sir’Dominic Pointer of St. John’s and
Jameel Warney of Stony Brook, as co-winners, along with
Granville Gittens of Baruch have been named Men’s Division I and Divisions II-III Players of the Week, respectively, by the Met Basketball Writers Assn.
The designations, for games played Feb. 23-March 1, are unique in that they encompass players from 74 Met area schools across Divisions I, II and III. This was the third time this season for both Pointer and Gittens being named MBWA Players of the Week, and the first selection for Warney.
A 6-6 senior guard-forward from Detroit, Mich., Pointer --- who also was named Big East player of the week --- averaged 21.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.0 blocks, 2.5 assists, 2.5 steals and shot 57.1% as the Red Storm (20-9) went 2-0 last week at Madison Square Garden.
He started the week with 19 points, nine rebounds, six blocks, four steals and three assists in a 58-57 triumph over Xavier. He hit five of his first six shots and became the 50th player in St. John’s history to record 1,000 career points with his tip-in at the 6:34 mark of the first half.
Pointer matched a career-high with 24 points in an 81-70 win over rival Georgetown, marking his 14th straight game scoring double-figures. He also grabbed seven rebounds, swatted two shots and handed out two assists to help lift the Red Storm to the 20-win mark for the second-straight season.
A 6-8 junior from Plainfield, N.J., Warney --- who also was named both America East player of the week and conference player of the year --- accounted for his nation-leading 19th and 20th double-doubles of the season in Seawolves (21-10) wins over UMass Lowell and Hartford. He shot 71.9% (23 of 32) from the field and made 9 of 12 free throws while totaling 30 rebounds in those games.
In a 75-60 home game victory over Lowell, Warney posted 23 points and 12 rebounds. He then tied a career-high with 32 points and a season-high with 18 rebounds in a 74-59 win at Hartford. That represented his second career 30-point game as he became the third player in Stony Brook’s Division I history to reach 1,400 career points.
Warney has tallied at least 10 field goals in a game five times this season and is only the second player in the program’s Division I history to score 500-plus points in a season. He concluded the regular season with averages of 16.3 ppg and 11.4 rpg, one of only 18 NCAA Division I players to average a double-double for the season.
A 6-6 senior forward from Brooklyn, N.Y., Gittens --- who was named CUNYAC Tournament MVP --- averaged 19 points, seven rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.5 blocked shots and a steal, and shot 86.7% from the foul line in leading the Bearcats (21-6) to the conference’s tournament title.
He hit the winning shot with two seconds left to defeat York 52-50 in a CUNYAC seminal, and wound up with a near double-double of 19 points and nine rebounds. Gittens then scored 19 points, including a buzzer-beater that sent the championship game into overtime, as Baruch earned its NCAA Tournament dance card with a 90-83 double-overtime triumph over Brooklyn.
The selections represent the final week of the 2014-15 MBWA players of the week program. The weekly honors will resume in late fall for next season.
Players receiving MBWA Men’s Division I Honorable Mention for the week:
Emmy Andujar, Manhattan; Cane Broome, Sacred Heart; Angel Delgado, Seton Hall.
Players receiving MBWA Men’s Divisions II-III Honorable Mention for the week:
Michael Balkovic, Caldwell; Hakeem Harris, NYU; Darian Hooker, NYIT; Robert Hueston, Dominican.
Previous MBWA 2014-15 Men’s Players of the Week: Dec. 9, D’Angelo Harrison, St. John’s; Dec. 16, Granville Gittens, Baruch, D’Angelo Harrison, St. John’s (co-winners); Dec. 23, Darien Davis, Dowling; Jan. 13, Isaiah Williams, Iona, Div. I . . . Lorenzo Williams, Brooklyn, Divs. II-III; Jan. 20, Marcus Burton, Wagner, Div. I . . . Granville Gittens, Baruch, Divs. II-III; Jan. 27, Sir’Dominic Pointer, St. John’s, Div. I . . . Hakeem Harris, NYU, and Darian Hooker, NYIT (co-winners), Divs. II-III; Feb. 3, Chavaughn Lewis, Marist, Div. I . . . Nick Smith, Dominican, Divs. II-III; Feb. 10, Jalen Cannon, St. Francis, Div. I . . . Darian Hooker, NYIT, Divs. II-III; Feb. 17, Sir’Dominic Pointer, St. John’s, Div. I . . . Hakeem Harris, NYU, and Darian Hooker, NYIT (co-winners), Divs. II-III . . . Feb. 24, Jalen Cannon, St. Francis, and David Laury, Iona (co-winners), Div. I . . . Nick Smith, Dominican, Divs. II-III.
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